Politics in the Wild West

Red Dead Redemption's main star is the Wild West. Sure, there may be this guy named John Marston gallivanting around looking to put a bullet between the eyes of some former 'comrades', but the story of the demise of the 'Old West' – as it's referred to in the game – is a much more potent one.

I have one criticism, though. The Old West was not about left-wing or right-wing, but about liberty vs. freedom. Modern left and right-wingers pick and choose their choice of social and/or economic freedom, whereas in the Old West it was basically a choice between libertarians and authoritarians. Of course, governments at the time were the main sponsors of business. Today, government protects us from a bloated private sector.

The author's fallacy is attributing 'right-wingedness' to social/economic freedom. Modern right-wingers support freedom only insomuch as it applies to business. By sponsoring corporations, you automatically take away the rights of the 'little guy' to survive in the marketplace.

So instead of talking about political identification, the author should be talking about individualism vs. collectivism. The Wild West represents rugged individualism to us all, but Marston also saw the corrupting influence of greed (and yes, individualism) in his acquaintances throughout the game. That's the paradox of Red Dead Redemption - John Marston wants to be left alone, but he sees what being left alone does to people, and he doesn't like it.